1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a sliding element, particularly a piston ring, with adjustable properties, particularly in relation to wear behaviour, and also a method of producing it.
2. Related Art
Nowadays customer requirements in relation to wear behaviour on the piston ring and the cylinder barrel differ. On the one hand, the least possible wear is required, while on the other hand, engine manufacturers also need higher wear rates, in order to obtain what is from their point of view the best possible running-in performance for the “piston ring/cylinder liner” system. This is becoming an increasingly common problem in the 2-stroke engines sector (ring diameters >430 mm).
Iron-based coatings applied by means of thermal spraying are not yet used on the piston ring. Only iron-based coatings on the cylinder barrel have been known to date in the crank drive sector, said coatings being produced by means of electric arc wire spraying (EP 1 055 351 B2). The production of anti-wear layers by means of the thermal spraying process is a known method. The powder materials used for this currently are Mo, WC, NiCr and Cr3C2.